Evaluation of real time B-mode ultrasound scanning for detecting early pregnancy in cows.

A real time B-mode ultrasound scanner with a 7.5 MHz rectal linear transducer was used in two trials to detect whether dairy cows, less than 25 days after insemination at standing oestrus, were pregnant. In the first trial 17 cows were inseminated on the same day, and their reproductive tracts were examined 14, 15, 16 or 17 days after insemination. All the cows were diagnosed accurately as either pregnant or not pregnant. In the second trial 22 cows were inseminated on the day of observed oestrus while 14 were observed at oestrus but not inseminated. The animals were kept as a mixed group and an experienced operator scanned the uterus of each cow on one occasion, without knowing either the dates of observed oestrus or which cows had been inseminated. The rate of correct diagnosis was only 33 per cent in cows up to 16 days after oestrus, but increased markedly after 17 days and was 100 per cent by day 20.